<h2>501st Northeast Remnant</h2><a name="501st"></a>
<p><img class="icon" src="images/guests/ner_logo_top.jpg" alt="501st Logo" />The 501st Northeast Remnant established in October of 2003, has roots within the <a href="http://www.501st.com/">501st Legion</a> tracing  all the way back to 1999. We are a professional costuming  group that takes great joy out of constructing movie accurate "Imperial" costumes.</p>
<p>Our main mission is to bring fun and joy to the multitudes  of Star Wars fans throughout the world, while also introducing  the world of Star Wars to a whole new generation, with  the release of the new Star Wars movies. You can view their website <a href="http://www.501stner.com/">here</a>.</p>
<h2>Vincent Baker</h2><a name="Vincent"></a>
<p>Vincent Baker is the author of Dogs in the Vineyard and Kill Puppies for Satan, which Kenneth Hite calls &ldquo;a game of surprising purity and depth.&rdquo; He&rsquo;s into small games with quirky systems and subversive humor. His game designs include RPGs, board games, and a miniature battle game featuring giant Lego robots. He lives in Western Mass.</p>
<h2>Matthew Blank</h2><a name="Matthew"></a>
<p><img class="icon" src="images/guests/matt.jpg" alt="Picture of Matthew Blank" />Matt Blank is currently the owner of Neutral Ground, New York City&rsquo;s finest game store which he acquired in Feb. 2002. Since 2003, Matt has been an officer of Paradigm Concepts, Inc., publishers of the successful and award-winning Arcanis: the World of Shattered Empires campaign setting.</p>
<p>Matt got his start in gaming at the tender age of eleven when, in a preview of things to come, he felt himself qualified to take on the role of the entire Marvel Universe. From this egomaniacal position of power, Matt plotted the destruction of heroes, played by his far less qualified friends. Now, Matt is renowned for his great skill at rules manipulation and if an election for &ldquo;best combat monster&rdquo; were to be held, his characters would be early front runners.</p>
<h2>Doug Chaffee</h2><a name="Doug"></a>
<p><img class="icon" src="images/guests/chaffee.jpg" alt="Picture of Doug Chaffee" />Doug Chaffee is one of a handful of artists farsighted enough to realize the future of the human race is in the stars. A product of Cold-War science fiction, Chaffee turned his energies to the technological. He became the head of IBM&rsquo;s Art Department during the early years of the space race. His career quickly skyrocketed as one of the leading artists not only in his genre, but of his generation. <a href="http://gabriel.cs.geneseo.edu/~uny-con/index.php?uny=dougchaffee.php">Read more...</a></p>
<h2>Edward Fear</h2><a name="Edward"></a>
<p>Edward Fear has been playing all manner of games since he was very young and has recently become more involved in the industry, designing the VS. system for Upper Deck Entertainment as well as doing development for Comic Images WWE Raw Deal game.  He has several other projects in the works which he will be talking about and demonstrating at UNY-Con.</p>
<h2>B.D. Flory</h2><a name="BD"></a>
<p><img class="icon" src="images/guests/BD.jpg" alt="Picture of B.D. Flory" />After a brief (and frightening) stint as a Hollywood freelancer, B.D. retreated to the game industry, where he is able to retain some small measure of sanity. His first project in the gaming arena was the Spycraft Espionage Handbook, for which he served as both a writer and editor. Since, B.D. has contributed to over 20 role playing game supplements, including such diverse game lines as 7th Sea, Exalted, and Orpheus, among others.</p>
<p>Naturally enough, the Spycraft family holds a special place in his heart; he contributed to every supplement during the game&rsquo;s first year of production, and authored Gentlemen&rsquo;s Agreement.</p>
<p>In less than four years in the adventure game industry, he&rsquo;s contributed to over two dozen in print products, and has worked with Alderac Entertainment Group, White Wolf Game Studio, and Fast Forward Entertainment, to name a few. After developing Monsters &amp; Lairs, one of the four core books for AEG&rsquo;s forthcoming Warlords of the Accordlands, B.D. has been playing in Pinnacle Entertainment Group&rsquo;s sandbox, and has authored Evernight 2: The Cradle of Midnight and Deadlands: Lost Colony Reloaded for the company&rsquo;s Savage Worlds System.</p>
<h2>C.J. Henderson</h2><a name="CJ"></a>
<p><img class="icon" src="images/guests/CJ.jpg" alt="Picture of C.J. Henderson" />Author C.J. Henderson is an Origins Award winner who, in his time, has earned his keep as everything from a movie house manager and blackjack dealer to a roadie, card shark and stand-up comic. He is the creator of two series characters known around the world, private eye Jack Hagee and supernatural investigator Teddy London. Over the past quarter century he has written over thirty books as well as hundreds of short stories and comics. His work has been seen in numerous anthologies, as well as such magazines as Cemetery Dance, Dragon, Espionage, Startling Science Stories, Crypt of Cthulhu, Different Worlds, Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, Fantasy Gamer and scores of others. As for his comics work, he has written for both DC and Marvel, as well as such wide-ranging companies as Archie and Penthouse. As a gamer, he has been around the block a few times as well. He has rolled the dice in Lake Geneva, WI, back in the days when it was still the home of TSR, and he has sat across the table from such notables as sci fi painter James Warhola, Lovecraft scholar Dr. Robert M. Price and everyone&rsquo;s favorite cartoonist, Gahan Wilson. He was also Larping over twenty years ago, back, as he says, &ldquo;before it had a name.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>Dallas Hoag</h2><a name="Dallas"></a>
<p>Having trouble finding a game that &ldquo;just fits your style?&rdquo; Stop by and play a game or two or six or sixty with Dallas. Dallas, the president of Games Asylum, is the pinnacle of board game knowledge and expertise. His years of experience in the gaming industry, working everywhere from our own gaming tycoon Crazy Egor to one of the big time board game fixers Mayfair Games, has armed him with a plethora of cardboard cutouts to warp your fragile psyche with.</p>
<h2>Nicolas Jequier</h2><a name="Nicolas"></a>
<p>In past years, Nic as creative designer and XID Creative representative has marveled us with his high fantasy wonder, Providence. As designer of Providence, Nic offers the clearest look into his sensational world powered by Wird. This year, Nic is here to offer us some of his gaming experience and Canadian wit as he sits in on our panel discussion of &ldquo;Living in the Real World of the Imaginary Ones&rdquo; and will be running a session or two of Providence as well.</p>
<h2>Aaron Siddall</h2><a name="Aaron"></a>
<p><img class="icon" src="images/guests/Aaronschar.jpg" alt="Drawing of Arron Siddall" />Aaron Siddall is a self-trained artist who lurks in the wilds of upstate New York. His tight, complex linework has appeared in numerous game products by Kenzer &amp; Company, White Wolf, Mongoose Publishing and others. Visit the artists <a href="http://personalpages.tds.net/~asiddall/">website</a></p>
<h2>The Great Luke Ski</h2><a name="Luke"></a>
<p>Luke Collis Sienkowski grew up in Pell Lake, Wisconsin, just a few miles away from the popular tourist destination Lake Geneva. At age 15 he took the stage at the Comedy Cafe in Milwaukee to perform stand-up comedy for the first time. He soon expanded into improv at ComedySportz clubs in Milwaukee and Kansas City. After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1996, he opened a caricature art stand at Station Casino Kansas City. It was during this time that Luke began submitting comedy songs to &ldquo;the Dr. Demento Show&rdquo; under his nickname, &lsquo;the great Luke Ski&rsquo;. Soon, he began releasing CDs of his music, and spending many weekends traveling to conventions and other venues across the Midwest to perform his comedy music for eager Demento fans. It was at one of these conventions, ALCON &lsquo;98, where he met Stephanie Wild, a professional stagehand from Madison, WI. In 2000, he moved from Kansas City back to his home state of Wisconsin to live with Stephanie, and in June of 2001 they were married. Luke Ski has been writing, recording, and performing his parodies since 1994. He has released 4 CDs, &ldquo;Fanboys &lsquo;n da Hood&rdquo; (1996), &ldquo;Shadows Of The Bunghole&rdquo; (1997), &ldquo;Carpe Dementia&rdquo; (1999), and &ldquo;Uber Geek&rdquo; (2002). He is currently touring for his newest album titled &ldquo;Worst Album Ever;&rdquo; featuring the new Eminem / Lord of the Rings parody titled &ldquo;Stealing Like A Hobbit.&rdquo; Check out the Great Luke Ski&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.lukeski.com/">website</a>.</p>
<h2>Barron Vangor Toth</h2><a name="Barron"></a>
<p>After graduating Fairfield University with two BA&rsquo;s in &lsquo;94 Barron opened up a comic and game shop in Connecticut. During that time, he wrote for various hobby publications as well as had some fiction published. Barron also was submitting articles into World Wrestling Entertainment -- with the success of Magic: The Gathering, they were looking to have a CCG designed for them. Considering Barron ran Magic events, played in PTQ&rsquo;s, had even made it to the Pro Tour, and had an active interest in working for them with a background in writing, they had Barron and a business partner design Raw Deal for them and the rest is, as the clich&eacute; goes, history.</p>